To Love, Once Again

Chapter 74

"Leo go fwirst!"

Slippers slap against the wood floor as Leo pitter-patters out of the bedroom taking advantage the door that Bea had opened. 

"Leo wait-!" Sera tries to chase after him but he was too quick for her. She could already hear his small thumps as he jumps down the stairs, one at a time.

"My Queen!"

Bea's hands shake as she hurriedly unclasps the jar of ointment and softly dabs the medicine over Sera's cheek.

It had bloomed a dark purple on her cheekbone after a night of sleep. Leo hadn't noticed it before in the dark of the night. Not wanting to worry the young boy, Sera had made sure her hair had hidden the mark on her cheek. 

Luckily when she woke up the injured part of her cheek had been hidden by the pillow she rested her head on. And the bedroom with the curtains drawn also provided the perfect camouflage to hide it from her son.

Sera didn't know how long she could hide the mark, but she would try. If only there was makeup here, like the ones in her old world, she wished. Some color-corrector and concealer would go a long way in hiding the mark.

"Is he outside?" Patting her hair down to make sure it wasn't too messy, Sera asked Bea.

Bea nods her head in a frantic motion. "Yes my Queen. He-"

Smack!

Bea smacks herself in the forehead.

"Oh no! I left him outside!" 

--------

Knock-Knock.

Taking a deep breath, Lucien adjusts his grip to make sure the bouquet of flowers was still beautifully arranged in his hand. It still looked small in his hands, even after he'd woken up earlier to ask the Royal gardener to add more flowers, and keep adding more, until time had run out. Under his arm, he carried a long wooden box. That was his back-up plan.

Was it the look on his face? 

Icaros had taken one look at him and laughed this morning, which prompted Lucien to put the King's Guard on an all-vegetable training menu for the day. Sera had told him that some people in her world believed that vegetables were a much better source of vetameens, proteens, and iron? That had opened up a whole new conversation between the two which left Lucien more confused than he was before. Everyone in Thornmere knew that meat was the best for gaining strength. It was taking the strength and mana of the animals and making it your own. And iron? He'd scratched his head at the concept of vegetables containing cold metals. Sera had giggled, and said it was good for blood.

No matter. Lucien had thought it the perfect punishment for when Icaros irked him. And he still didn't know what sort of expression he was making to cause Icaros to laugh like that. His face looked the same in the mirror, albeit more proper after he'd cleaned himself up some.

Everyone in the castle had given him a wide berth in the hallways on the way to Leo's cottage this morning. Walking with back ramrod straight and an aura that belied his intense concentration, the servants whispered to each other. Many thought their King was headed to a highly sensitive and important meeting of some sort.
For Lucien, it was. Since it would be his first official meeting with his son in 5 years.Would his son even want to meet him? What if his son started crying when Lucien appeared before him? Sera would be sad to see their son cry.
And so his thoughts circled around in his head.

It didn't help that the moment Bea had answered the door with a wide smile on her face, she'd seen him, then slammed the door shut. 

Why was Bea surprised now of all times?